Comments on: How a Descendant of Dinosaurs Became a Ubiquitous Dinner Dish

By: Zipper

Zipper — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:36:38 +0000

Thanks for the info, floodmouse! I may be only 12 years old, but i know that it’s cruel to keep and animal locked up in a cage. My family owns 2 dogs, and they are allowed to go anywere they want except the couch. We let them run around, unleashed, in the forest behind my house whenever we go outside. they still havent run away yet. thanks all you free range farmers!

By: C LEONARD

C LEONARD — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:40:43 +0000

I am one of those “factory farmers.” Times have changed. I raise hatching eggs which are quite tasty and have very yellow yolks. Much better than others I have gotten at the store. My chickens are happy and comfortable. When the temp outside is 90 + they are at 80- with a nice breeze. They have plenty of room to walk around, enjoy dusting in the scratch area, and don’t have to worry about predators. Chicken farming is a business that has to take into consideration of the welfare of the chicken and the monetary benefit of the farmer. As a job which is 24/7, there is not much benefit. No one wantsto pay alot for eggs or chicken. As a farmer, I have around 20000 birds with an annual in my pocket income of about $30000. Not much for the amount of work I have to do. So please cut us farmers some slack. Just to let you know, when I first got into this business I didn’t make aa profit for 8 years

By: J.R.

J.R. — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:21:48 +0000

Interesting article for anyone who raises chickens. Like “Serena”, I have a small farm and raise free-range chickens for eggs. Not “free-range” as the government requires, meaning a certain number of square feet per bird – but the birds are still in a cage. Free-range in the pure sense. Once my flock is let out of the barn at morning, the birds can go wherever they want. They establish whatever routine they like, squabble among themselves, cozy with each other, eat whatever they choose (they are fed a grain mix a.m. and p.m.) and it’s up to me to find the eggs. Like all small farmers, I introduce new genetic blood periodically. My flock has roosters and I breed my own next generations. And yes. The eggs (from small to jumbo) are declared “the best ever” by those who eat them and cook with them. If you can find a free-range chicken farm, try the eggs for yourself! I suspect you will find, as I do, that the health benefits of humane chicken keeping will be apparent for humans. And I know it is for the birds (intentional pun.)

By: Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:48:11 +0000

Peter Limburg’s elderly memories of cheap chicken have more to do with advanced age and wishful thinking than reality.

Chicken was far more expensive than beef or pork in the “good old days.” It wasn’t until the expansion of intensive chicken farming after WW II that chicken became a cheap and common meat. The expansion in US chicken production and the resulting exports of chicken to Europe brought about a trade war in the 1960s as the French and Germans tried to keep the price of chicken artificially high to benefit their chicken producers.

By: Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:40:13 +0000

Serena would be a bit more believable if she wasn’t making money off of those “free range” chickens.

By: Serena

Serena — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:20:47 +0000

Well, I am a small farmer (only 5 acres) but I do have 25 laying hens. The taste difference between my eggs and store bought is HUGE. Anyone who says they have tasted them both and can’t detect a difference obviously has some challenged tastebuds. Free range chicken eggs are better for you than factory farmed eggs too. They aren’t full of antibiotics (that were injected into the hens) they have lower cholesterol than factory farmed eggs. They are just a superior product all around.

By: Pippa

Pippa — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:51:16 +0000

Iowa, I hope you were just being provocative, or making an attempt to joke. If not – there is a difference between ethics and emotions. Maybe reference to a dictionary would help. And ‘m’ – I happen to be a scientist! I prefer a Mac to samsung because I can program so much more myself. Or were you ‘joking’ too? So hard to tell electronically. (I am serious.)

By: Jojo

Jojo — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:04:44 +0000

I’ve eaten free range and regular chicken and their eggs. I’ve never been able to taste any difference.

That being said, I do agree that it is criminal how chickens are raised in today’s factory farms.

By: m

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:22:58 +0000

Just give up number 2. Explaining the wrongs of “old fashioned farming” to Pippa and floodmouse is like trying to teach a caveman how to use a Samsung Tablet.

By: Peter Limburg

Peter Limburg — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:41:24 +0000

Not true, “Iowa.” I was born in 1929 and can remember that chicken was not for the “extremely few,” but something that even low-income families could enjoy once a week, if not more often. Factory farming has indeed made chicken a very common food, but it has certainly degraded the quality of the meat as well as the quality of life for the chickens–not to mention the serious environmental problem of disposing of large quantities of chicken manure.